Spotify is in talks with the African telecommunications company Vodacom about a partnership that would introduce its streaming-music service there, according to a report.

Citing two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that the talks would include Vodacom -- which is owned by Vodafone -- offering Spotify subscriptions to its wireless customers including limited free data to stream music.

Coming at a time when competition between subscription-music services is intensifying even as large swaths of highly connected countries are still unfamiliar with the model, such a deal would introduce Spotify to a large population still untapped by rivals, but the market is generally one still at the earlier stages of connectivity.

Vodacom has networks in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria and Lesotho. The Sweden-based streaming-music service has already flooded Europe and expanded to much of North and South America, with a few outposts in Asia, having launched in places like Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

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Joan E. Solsman is a senior writer for CNET focused on digital media. She previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere in New York City and has been doored only once.
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